She seized the opportunity, crawling on her stomach across the green stage, the cable dragging behind her like a green snake.
The man took another drag off the cigarette and slowly turned in Jess’s direction as he exhaled. If he looked down, he’d be looking right at her.
Finn willed her not to move, not to so much as breathe.
The ash from the man’s cigarette broke loose and fell slowly to the floor. His head dropped, his eyes following it.
Finn couldn’t take it. He spotted a group of push pins stuck into the plywood. He withdrew one and threw it across the room. It clattered and rolled.
The smoker turned away from Jess with a start. Finn backed up, deeper into shadow.
“Hey!” the smoker called out.
The other man reappeared from within the control room. “What?”
“Something…I don’t know…over there.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying I heard something.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“So check it out, you doofus. And put out that cigarette before you burn the place down.”
Finn stepped forward and sneaked another look.
The smoker smudged out the burning cigarette against the sole of his shoe. As he did, Jess once again crawled toward the edge of the green stage behind him. She reached the length of her cable and stopped, face down.
The smoker headed in the direction of the sound of Finn’s pin. He searched the area near the door they all had come through. His partner joined him.
“Well,” said the smoker, “I heard something too, but it wasn’t much. How do you want to deal with it?”
“It’s a nonevent. I’ll call it in.” He snagged a radio from his belt as the two men made for the door. His voice could be heard faintly reporting in as they shut the door.
Five minutes passed. “All-clear,” Finn announced in a forced whisper.
“We were probably talking too loudly,” Philby said, once they’d gathered in the control room. “We can do this. We just can’t be so loud about it.”
“We can’t do it tonight,” Finn corrected. “Look at the time.”
To everyone’s surprise, they’d lost nearly a half hour.
“We’re going to be late,” said Amanda. “That won’t be pretty.”
“We can’t be late,” Jess said. “There’s no telling what Mrs. Nash might do. That woman is…well, let’s just say she’s not normal.”
“We made a lot of progress on the imaging,” Philby said. “But there’s more to do, and don’t forget the voice recording. We’ve got to have Sunday if we’re going to pull this off.”
“Then we can’t be late,” said Jess.
“But we already are,” said Amanda. “Unless anyone happens to have a helicopter handy?”
“Maybeck,” Finn said.
They all looked at him.
“We’ve got to get Maybeck to delay the other girls. If they’re late, and if Jess and Amanda arrive at the same time—”
“Then Mrs. Nash won’t know,” said Willa excitedly.
“But the girls will,” Charlene said. “What about the other girls?”
“Jeannie’s the only one who might put up a stink,” said Jess. “The others couldn’t care less.”
“But Jeannie,” Amanda said, “will definitely tell on us.”
“Then you’ll have to bribe her,” said Charlene, as if she knew all about such things.
“How?” said Jess.
“There must be something. Money?”
“No, not Jeannie. All she does is read books from the library. She couldn’t care less about money.”
“Music?” Philby asked. “Movies?”
Amanda said, “I know!” She looked over at Jess.
“Her poster.”
Jess looked at Finn, then at Amanda. “That could work,” Jess said.
“What?” Finn asked. “Whatever it is, we’ve got to do it. We can’t have her wrecking this.”
The two girls giggled. Amanda said, “Are you sure?”
“What?” Finn asked, feeling he was being left out of some joke.
“Jeannie’s poster is of you, Finn. Your Magic Kingdom DHI poster.”
“Me?”
“What if we could promise her she could meet you?” Amanda asked.
“That hardly qualifies as a bribe,” Philby said. “More like a penalty.”
“Thanks a lot,” Finn said.
“Well?” Jess asked.
“If it means your getting back safely tonight, then absolutely,” said Finn.
He glanced over at Amanda. Something felt wrong about agreeing to do this. But he just had.